In the field of chair-side dentistry and in some medical procedures, each time a procedure on a patient is completed, a number of similar medical or dental instruments are left in a contaminated state. It has been the practice for many years to accumulate these instruments and periodically clean and sterilize a batch of such instruments. In dental offices in which there are several dentists, dental assistants and/or hygienists working, frequently each individual has his or her instruments which he or she prefers using. For reasons of economy, large numbers of such instruments are usually mixed together for periodic cycling through the cleaning and sterilizing processes.
After completion of such cycling, these large batches of instruments must be sorted in order to collect those instruments used in a particular procedure and in order to return them to the appropriate dentist, dental assistant or hygienist. This necessitates the expenditure of time and effort by medical or dental office personnel to perform the sorting. One procedure now used to facilitate this sorting is for each dentist or hygienist to apply a different colored band to each instrument to indicate to whom the instrument belongs. These colored bands are much easier to see than are markings made to the handles of instruments, but sorting by color is still necessary and time consuming.
The present invention provides a convenient cleaning and sterilization method that allows each group of instruments to be identified and segregated as to the particular procedure for which they are intended and even as to the person to whom they belong, so that the time and effort involved in sorting each instrument by hand is eliminated. Once collected and segregated, the method of the invention also minimizes handling of the instruments, which reduces the potential for bodily injury to the medical or dental support personnel, damage to the instruments and contamination.